Bills Aimed At Cheaper Auto Insurance Go To Senate

March 31, 1999|By DIANE LEVICK; Courant Staff Writer

Looking for ways to lower auto insurance premiums, state legislators advanced bills Tuesday that would promote group purchasing of policies and require insurers to offer a cheaper alternative to collision coverage.

One bill passed by the Insurance and Real Estate Committee and sent to the Senate would broaden the kinds of associations and groups that could sponsor mass marketing of auto and homeowners' insurance.

Mass marketing can lower administrative costs and commissions, which can be reflected in lower rates than many people could find elsewhere.

The proposal is what remains of a much-debated bill that would have made driving records the key in calculating auto insurance rates for all Connecticut residents. It would have greatly reduced the weight given to each driver's residence.

The bill approved Tuesday would apply a similar concept to rates for policies sold through mass marketing. But the committee's House chairman, Rep. James Amann, D- Milford, predicted such language may be removed or reworked because many legislators aren't convinced the rating system would work.

Under the new bill, rates for mass-marketed auto policies would be uniform except for differences reflecting a driver's safety record, number of miles driven annually and years of driving experience.

Rep. Art Feltman, D-Hartford, believes the bill could help many suburbanites as well as drivers in the cities, where rates currently are often hundreds of dollars higher.

``I think it gives good drivers in denser [population] areas another option to purchase insurance which is probably going to be cheaper,'' Feltman said.

Another bill approved Tuesday and sent to the Senate would require auto insurers to sell up to $25,000 coverage for property damage caused by uninsured drivers. The coverage, which is already offered in at least six other states, would be cheaper than collision coverage because it would apply in fewer accidents.

If you buy collision insurance, it pays for repairs to your car, regardless of who's involved in the accident. However, if you buy ``uninsured motorist property damage insurance,'' it would kick in only if you're hit by someone without insurance who's at fault, according to regulators.

The ``uninsured motorist'' insurance you currently buy pays only for your injuries, not damage to your car.